"Three Forks of Cheat" is an American reel in A major. It was collected from Burl Hammons on April 25, 1972, by Alan Jabbour. Burl learned this tune from his uncle Peter Hammons. The most southerly sources of the Cheat River system lie in northern Pocahontas County, West Virginia from there they flow generally northward toward where the river joins the Monongahela just across the Pennsylvania border. The Battle of Cheat Mountain, also known as the Battle of Cheat Summit Fort, took place from September 12 to 15, 1861, in Pocahontas County and Randolph County, Virginia (now West Virginia) as part of the Western Virginia Campaign during the American Civil War. It was the first battle of the Civil War in which Robert E. Lee led troops into combat. The battle had little effect on either the campaign or the war; both forces after the battle were in positions similar to their positions before the battle. This tune is not related to "The Cheat River". "Three Forks of Cheat" is played with the fiddle tuned AEac#, a widespread tuning for tunes in the key of A that feature C# as a principal note in the upper strain. The banjo tab is from Ken Torke at "Tater Joe's". The mandolin tab is adapted from the fiddle arrangement (from Burl Hammons) at "Tater Joe's". I have simplified it to be played in standard tuning.